[Chapters-l] Fwd: ASIS&T MEMALERTs with declining info value -- how are the rest of you managing?

[beata_panagopoulos at Harvard.Edu]

I have never used the MEMALERTS, preferring instead to use the Chapter
Member Updates.  However, because I no longer receive the update reports on
a regular basis (I have to beg for them), I was thinking I should start
using the memalerts.

The 2nd to the last chapter member update I received (I haven't looked
carefully at the most recent one) - produced with the new system was
missing ALOT of very vital information (which I reported to Vanessa).  The
most important bit of information missing for me was the title of the
person at work and the institution.  Imagine getting the address of a
person working at an MIT Library as 77 Massachusetts Avenue, but not
including the minor point that this is MIT.  Or the address might say
"Office of Communications", but no institution - that definitely would not
go anywhere at Harvard.  Plus, it's just important for us to know where
someone works, for all sorts of reasons.

I've already reported my problems, but I have a feeling that they are still
working on them.

Beata

Beata Panagopoulos
Outgoing Membership Chair
NEASIST


                                                                                                           
                      sleeter at main.mor                                                                     
                      ris.org                  To:      chapters-l at asis.org                                
                      Sent by:                 cc:                                                         
                      chapters-l-admin         Subject: [Chapters-l] Fwd: ASIS&T MEMALERTs with declining  
                      @asis.org                info value -- how are the rest of you managing?             
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                           
                      07/08/2002 12:58                                                                     
                      PM                                                                                   
                                                                                                           
                                                                                                           




I sent this concern regarding the reduced utility of the MEMALERTS to Kyle,

who promptly replied that, with the new member records system, he has not
been getting complete, nor uniformly formatted info in the monthly extracts

he receives from HQ.

See Kyle's response below.

How do the rest of you manage without having the Membership type (student,
full), dates of membership, or SIG membership?  As you can see, the first
record I received doesn't even have a first name.  This makes initial
contact fairly difficult...  I assume that this info IS in the membership
rosters sent, but the point of MEMALERT was, as conceived by Jim Cretsos,
that MEMALERTs would be a more timely notification of chapter officers of
new members than the member roster updates mailed from HQ.

Your thoughts?

And now we'll see if anyone is "out there" on Chapters-L!  ;-)

Ellen


>Date: Mon, 08 Jul 2002 10:59:06 -0400
>To: kyle.banerjee at state.or.us
>From: "Ellen Sleeter, M.A.I.N. Administrator" <sleeter at main.morris.org>
>Subject: Re: ASIS&T MEMALERT
>Cc: Dick Hill <rhill at asis.org>,sleeter at main.morris.org,dkaylor at wright.edu
>
>At 09:21 AM 7/5/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>>The New York Chapter has gained the following members!
>>
>>         Huerster
>>         134164
>>         "101 Turman Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10703-1057"
>>
>>         Tomasura
>>         Michael
>>         438988
>>         mtonmasura at juno.com
>>         "97 James St, Shavertown, PA 18708"
>
>Kyle,
>
>I haven't paid close attention, or I would have mentioned it sooner, so I
>apologize in advance.
>
>Concern:  The message format for MEMALERT for new members used to be quite

>useful.  This, from the last message I received from you in 2001
(11/28/2001):
>
>  152990  Mr. Ralph Zenger               11/2001  11/2002 ralph at triyay.com
>          491 Manhattan Ave              Member Type: 001-Regular Member
>          New York, NY  10027
>          212 866-1250
>     SIGS: IA
>
>However, the four messages that I've received from you in 2002 have had
>steadily declining levels of "information value", until this, above,
>received last week.
>
>It's important to know effective date of membership, email address, and
>membership status.  Can the program that culls this info be fixed?
>
>Thanks
>Ellen

Kyle promptly replied:

     This is possible, but the format of the memalert messages is largely a
function of the information I receive. After the membership software was
switched over, I have been receiving the following 7 fields:

     Last name
     First name
     Id number
     email address
     Chapter Code
     Address

     I will always send all information that I receive -- I haven't been
receiving the member type or membership dates ever since the software
change, so it hasn't been sent out. Another challenge that I encounter is
that the field order sometimes differs in the reports. To minimize
processing time on my part, I've rewritten the program so that all it just
looks for a chapter code and it then emails all the information it finds to
whoever is in my list to receive the memalerts.



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ELLEN L. SLEETER
Network Administrator/Division Head, County of Morris, NJ
Morris Automated Information Network (M.A.I.N.)
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